


A ghost of a chance

by MyLadyDay



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Ghosts, Haunted Houses, mentions of minor character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-20
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-04 04:49:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11547819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyLadyDay/pseuds/MyLadyDay
Summary: After his mother died, Ace had a hard time recognizing things that were good. It took a while, but he could finally see what was great in his life: the new house, living with Luffy and Sabo, his chance for a fresh start. He only wished he could finally sleep and stop imagining things that didn't make sense.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NathanLewis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NathanLewis/gifts).



> Info about my writing can be found on myladyday.tumblr.com

"That's the last of it!" Sabo called out from somewhere in the house, successfully snapping Ace out of his thoughts.

Not for the first time in the past two months, Ace found himself lost in thought over his mother's music box, allowing the music to lull him into a sense of security where he almost felt like he was ten years old and lying in bed with a fever. The room was awash with the soothing low tones, sweet and joyous, just like his mother was. Nothing calmed him as well as that music box did and Ace couldn't tear his eyes from it now that it was the only thing of his mother's he had.

In hindsight, maybe he should have kept more stuff. It was a feeling that hadn't left him ever since he'd buried her and found himself left with a house full of things that reminded him of his mother, but her presence was missing oh so painfully.

It hadn't really sunk in that she was gone, not when she said goodbye at the hospital or when the funeral was over. Not until he walked into his childhood home and saw everything that belonged in there, except for Rouge herself.

"Ace?" Sabo called, sounding closer this time, and Ace snapped the lid shut on the box, maybe with more force than he meant to, making the music stop.

"Yeah?" He sounded distracted at best, but Sabo was too nice to comment on it, like he'd been the entire time since Rouge ended up in the hospital for the last time.

"You hungry?" he asked, leaning into the room. "I was about to go get some take out because there's no way I'm digging out the kitchen stuff to cook tonight."

"Yeah, sure," Ace replied, even though he wasn't really that hungry. "I'm fine with anything, just pick what you want." He did his best to smile, if nothing else it was an attempt at reassuring Sabo that he was trying. No one expected him to be completely fine, but at least he put in an effort into moving on.

"Thai it is, then. I think I saw a place nearby," Sabo told him, already digging out his keys from a box of towels left in the hall in front of Ace's room.

"What about Luffy?" Ace asked, finally noticing the lack of a Luffy shaped ruckus.

"He's staying over with his friends," Sabo said, and from the tone of his voice alone, Ace was sure Luffy did something that warranted him staying over somewhere while they unpacked everything. He knew better than to ask, though, opting for just waiting until Sabo just came out and said it.

Barely a moment later, Sabo sighed that tired sigh of his that went hand in hand with Luffy's antics.

"He saw a dog and dropped the box of plates on the sidewalk to chase after it."

It was enough to make him laugh, oddly enough, and it wasn't just for show this time, it was a full loud thing that only Luffy managed to draw out of him, even on the worst of days. And Ace had a lot of those lately.

"I'm glad you find that amusing," Sabo started, sounding far too fond considering, "because we have no plates anymore until one of us goes out and buys them."

"Just go get us some food, we can eat out of take out boxes," Ace said, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes, glad that for once they were tears of joy. "I don't feel like cleaning up after dinner anyway."

"Fine, fine, I'm going," Sabo said with a roll of his eyes and a small smile on his lips that suggested he wasn't as put out as he pretended to be. "Clear out the dining table while I'm gone. I don't wanna eat on the floor."

Ace waved him off, already on his way to the boxes piled up around and on top of the table. There were so many damn boxes and Ace really wasn't looking forward to unpacking all that stuff. It was by far the worst part of the move, second only to the fact they had to pack it all up in the first place.

He was tired, though, from being on his feet the entire day, carrying boxes out of the moving truck and into the house, and now that he thought about it, Luffy did just vanish at one point. After so many incidents, Ace had to admit he'd gotten used to Luffy slinking away before Sabo realized what he did wrong.

Picking up a random box seemed to be a good way to start making space for dinner, going only so far to move it out of the way and deposit it in the living room, where it would become tomorrow's problem. The other boxes slowly followed, each somewhat confusing him with its contents. After all, he had no recollection of leaving a box of his books lying under a box of blankets, which in turn was under a box of assorted bathroom stuff.

Their piss poor attempt at organizing anything would come bite both him and Sabo in the ass, as soon as they started unpacking in the morning, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to care just then. He was actually starting to get hungry, which was somewhat unusual these days and it made Ace move the stuff faster.

It also made him him even less organized, but he was sure future Ace could handle it, so it wasn't long until he was down to one box left on one of the chairs. With a sigh of relief, Ace picked it up and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end immediately.

He froze in that spot, unsure what was making him feel on edge all of a sudden, like he was being watched, knowing it wasn't likely because Sabo would have made some noise if it was him. There was no way anyone else could have gotten in without him knowing, either, and Luffy wouldn't have been able to stay silent for long if he'd returned early from his sleepover. 

Ace turned slowly, feeling the palms of his hands sweating where he was clutching at the cardboard box. He took a deep breath, feeling like he was suddenly outside in the middle of winter, the air feeling like it was made of ice, and it surprised him enough that he exhaled in a rush, his breath fogging in front of his face.

It was far too warm for that to be possible, his mind supplied helpfully, and momentarily he was distracted from the feeling of being observed. The moment passed quickly, and he was more alarmed than before, but even when he turned around, there was no one around. The feeling stayed, even when he saw for himself that he was completely alone, but the cold air persisted. There was absolutely no logical reason for the living room to feel like it was the middle of winter and the house had no heating system.

The front door burst open then, making Ace jump, his grip on the box almost laughable, but he didn't drop it.

"You didn't say what exactly you want, so I just took the usual," Sabo called from the front hall and Ace found himself exhaling in a rush of relief.

The air around him was warm again and the feeling of being watched was gone, but Ace was still stuck in place, unsure what had just happened. Or rather, if anything had happened at all.

"Just put that down somewhere and come on, I'm starving," Sabo as once he entered the room, immediately depositing the bags of food on the table. 

Ace nodded, kind of distractedly, but still did as he was told, depositing this box with the others in the living room, before joining Sabo at the table, shaking off the weird feeling still clinging to him.

* * *

Sleeping in a new place for the first time was one of Ace's least favorite things. For one, he could never actually fall asleep; he wasn't used to the bed or his surroundings or the noise coming from outside. It was all too unusual and unnerving and the reason why he hated to travel.

Getting used to a new bed in a new bedroom was just like sleeping in a hotel on the first night of a vacation. Everything was too unfamiliar, the bed was too new, the bedding was stiff and scratchy. Well, he knew that last one was probably just his imagination. Either way, he wasn't about to sleep.

He felt himself doze off here and there, for what felt like minutes at a time, but in all honesty he had no idea just how long he ended up sleeping. His sleep was light, not even close to his usual tendency to sleep like the dead, and everything seemed to wake him up.

As soon as the shuffling in front of his door startled him awake, Ace knew Sabo was having trouble sleeping as well. It wasn't really a surprise, they were more similar than was obvious at first glance and Ace couldn't help but smile, before he got out of bed and followed towards the kitchen. The least he could do was get a glass of water.

The kitchen was dark when he got there, though, completely silent and still, making it obvious Ace was alone. He didn't bother turning on the light then, unwilling to disturb Sabo if he was actually still sleeping, but slightly bothered that he was so tired, he'd been imagining hearing someone walk in front of his door.

He moved forward, slow and careful in the dark of an unfamiliar room, making his way towards the sink to at least get that glass of water before returning to bed. The only two glasses  they'd unpacked were the ones they used at dinner and Ace was at least grateful he'd washed them earlier.

The water ran icy cold, once he'd reached the tap, and the chill seemed to seep into the air, making Ace shiver so violently, he'd dropped the glass and it shattered on the tiles just next bare foot. Glass, cold and sharp, cut into his skin, and Ace gave a weak shout of pain, but it felt muffled somehow, like he was trapped in a fog, cold and unrelenting.

His breathing sped up, and even in the darkness he could see his breath fog in front of his face, but he didn't need to see that to know how cold it suddenly became. It felt too real to be a dream, the cold of the air and the sharp pain in his foot convincing him that it was in fact real.

His foot was on fire, though, at odds with the cold of the air, but he couldn't focus on it, not with the feeling of being watched rolling over him again. Another shiver ran down his spine and Ace recoiled, the sensation of fingers running down his back making him jump back and reach for something, anything, to protect himself, but only succeeding in knocking over the sparse things they'd left on the counter earlier. The glass was digging deeper into the sole of his foot, burning hotter, making him slip with each hesitant step he took.

There was nothing there, however, nothing around him but the cold air and the even colder fear in his chest.

The light snapped on and Ace startled, faced with Sabo and his trusty baseball bat, raised as if he was ready to swing. The cold drained from the room as soon as Sabo made his entrance, just like before, and Ace couldn't help but feel that perhaps he hadn't imagined it earlier after all. Or maybe he was just that tired.

"Ace?" Sabo asked, confused and groggy from sleep. "What the hell?"

And oh how he wished he could answer that question.


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sabo asked yet again, gaze set firmly on Ace's foot. His left hand gripped Ace's ankle to hold him still, while his right held onto the tweezers that slowly, but surely removed the shards of glass from his skin.

"I'll be fine," Ace replied, but his voice sounded a bit weak even to him. "It doesn't hurt that bad."

The immediate rise of Sabo's eyebrow was a sure enough sign to Ace that his words weren't believed, but Sabo didn't press, focusing again on Ace's wounds. He must have been curious, but the nurse in him prevailed as always, putting treating Ace above his own curiosity, something Ace was immensely glad about.

He didn't really want to talk about it, in all honesty, because he was tired and confused and still half asleep probably. Well, he had been until the glass shattered and he got hurt. Sure, he'd been hurt worse before, and he had complete faith in Sabo's skills to patch him up, but that didn't mean Ace was completely at ease.

"You're lucky the glass didn't go too deep," Sabo said somewhat distractedly, without looking up from what he was doing. "You won't need stitches."

That was a relief, and Ace managed to exhale heavily, not even noticing he'd held his breath before. He wasn't really a fan of hospitals, not after how much time he'd spent in one while his mom was sick, and Sabo knew that very well. Sure, he'd moved since then, so the hospital wouldn't be the same, but it would still be a hospital nonetheless.

"I'm lucky to have you around," Ace said, and he meant it wholeheartedly, maybe even in more ways than just this one.

Sabo usually dealt with Luffy's injuries at home, and Ace forgot most of the time that he could get hurt as well. It didn't happen very often, after all, but at the same time, Ace knew he was the source of most of the worry between Sabo and Luffy. He could hardly see this helping the matter at all.

"You're always lucky to have me around," Sabo replied with a snort, but his hands never faltered, his gaze never moved from what he was doing.

Ace's foot was starting to feel sore, now that the adrenaline was wearing off and he was slowly coming to his senses, as much as he could with how tired he was. Come to think of it, he hadn't slept properly in a long while, so there was no reason to start now it seemed.

"Okay, just let me clean this and dress it, then you should be fine," Sabo said as he set the tweezers down and let Ace's foot rest on his thigh for a moment, while he gathered what he needed next. "You should walk as little as possible until everything heals, but I don't think that's gonna be a problem."

Ace knew it would be fine for the most part, given that his work mostly consisted of sitting in front of the laptop, but there was so much unpacking left to do and Ace didn't trust Luffy to do the bulk of it. Sabo had his job to think of, the only one of them with an actual job to go to, unlike Ace who worked from home. He wasn't actually sure why Luffy was the one to take a couple of days off for the move, considering he was the one not allowed to handle half of their stuff.

He turned his attention back to Sabo, observing as he wiped the blood off and disinfected the wounds. It stung a bit, but it wasn't too bad all things considered. Suddenly, he was awfully tired, and incredibly anxious to get to bed.

He wouldn't be able to sleep, of course, Ace knew that already, but lying in bed should be more comfortable than sitting in the living room, surrounded by boxes. Honestly, it was surprising they'd actually found enough space for him to sit down while Sabo treated his wounds.

Next time he looked down, Sabo was wrapping a soft white bandage around his foot and securing it around the ankle.

"Come on," Sabo said a moment later, gently moving Ace's foot from where it rested on his thigh, before he stood. "I'll help you back to your room," he said with his hand held out for Ace to take, to hoist himself off the couch and hobble through the house with Sabo's help.

Sabo said nothing while they walked, slow and unsteady in the dark, but they made it somehow, with more effort than was probably strictly necessary. But they did make it and Ace was faced with Sabo's worried look, obvious even in the dark.

"Do you need me to bring you something?" he asked from the doorway.

"Nah, I just need to sleep," Ace replied, choosing to not mention he wouldn't be sleeping probably. "Go to bed, you need rest too."

"If you say so," Sabo said, "but I'm waking you up for breakfast and to change your bandages if I need to."

"Good night," Ace said with a roll of his eyes and exasperation obvious in his voice, barely hearing Sabo's snort and a wish for a good night.

Once he was left alone, though, and all sounds from the house died down, Ace couldn't settle in. The bed wasn't comfortable, the house was too quiet, the shadows around the room were all wrong.

Was he being paranoid? Probably.

Was it warranted? He couldn't tell.

The room was warm, definitely a more manageable temperature than the days were, but Ace couldn't fight off the cold sweat washing over him. His foot was sore, the wounds now throbbing under the bandages, and all his focus shifted there, distracting him from even trying to sleep because the pain suddenly seemed to obvious and the room was all wrong and unfamiliar. He couldn't describe it, but something was off, as if something was lurking, but he saw nothing, heard nothing.

Ace let his head drop back to the pillow, exhaling heavily as he stared at the dark ceiling and hoped he'd fall asleep at some point.

* * *

He must have fallen asleep at some point, because he jolted awake when Luffy barged into the room, leaping from the door and landing on top of Ace. Somehow, he managed to avoid Ace's injured foot, which had to have been done with forethought and good aim so Ace knew Sabo talked to Luffy. Luffy may have been a lot of things, but never reckless when it came to the people he loved.

"Food's ready and Sabo said I can't eat without you!" Luffy shouted, even though Ace was right there. "Get your ass out of bed, I'm hungry!"

"Good morning to you, too, Lu," Ace said, sounding awfully tired, even to his own ears. "Get off me," he added, pushing at Luffy, but it was a weak attempt at best. After all, he didn't really mind Luffy hanging around, his presence has always been a comfort Ace wouldn't give up for the world.

"Come on, I'm starving," Luffy whined, even though he probably already ate something before even coming home.

He did move, though, only enough to give Ace room to swing his legs off the side of the bed. Luffy waited patiently, so at odds with how impatient he'd been only moments before, ready to lend a hand to Ace for the short walk to the kitchen.

"Where is Sabo anyway?" Ace asked as he got up, hopping awkwardly on his good foot while Luffy slid under his arm so subtly, Ace thought he might miss it if he didn't know Luffy so well. One of Luffy's arms secured Ace around his waist, and together they made their way to the kitchen.

"Koala sprained her ankle so he's covering for her at the hospital," Luffy said. "He made me promise to feed you then make you sit down."

"What else am I gonna do, Lu? Run a marathon?" Ace asked with a roll of his eyes.

"I'm sure you could, but I'm not supposed to let you," Luffy replied, sounding kind of amused, as if he didn't really think Ace would be able to run a marathon.

Ace was about to reply, something indignant and vaguely insulted, but not meant seriously, when his breath caught and he breathed out a small foggy cloud in the suddenly frigid air. Luffy didn't slow, though, didn't give an indication that he'd noticed something was off, and Ace found himself panicking for a moment, but with the next breath, the air was warm again. They made it to the kitchen, surrounded by a smell of pancakes and bacon and eggs, a pot of coffee steaming on the counter.

It was enough to give him whiplash, to make him think all the sleepless nights were finally coming back to bite him in the ass, and Ace couldn't say he liked it.

But Luffy was his usual cheerful self, driving the chill out of the air, making Ace forget about the things he'd been seeing and feeling. He sat down at the table, where he'd eaten dinner with Sabo last night, noting that the glass had been swept up and there was no sign of him having bled on the floor. It was almost easy to forget what happened, if he ignored the throbbing in his foot, that somehow got much worse through the night.

Once again, Luffy came to the rescue, distracting Ace by placing food on the table in front of him, even going as far as making coffee for Ace. It was funny, seeing Luffy this patient and putting Ace first even with food on the line, but it wasn't unusual in itself. It was just...Luffy.

Once he was sitting down, though, with his own plate, Luffy's entire focus was on the food and they ate in relative silence. The entire thing was so familiar already, Ace wasn't even surprised anymore at how fast Luffy ate, his food almost disappearing from the plate.

"So what am I unpacking?" Luffy asked, mouth full and his words understandable only because Ace was already fluent in Luffy talk.

"Nothing," Ace replied with a glare, though it was really a harmless thing, "because you already broke all our plates."

"Oh yeah," Luffy said, as if only noticing they were eating pancakes from bowls, "I did. Whoops."

He didn't sound too broken up about it, though, not that Ace was expecting it. Plates were pretty easy to replace, after all.

Luffy got up then, still chewing on his breakfast as he dumped the bowl into the sink.

"If I promise to be extra careful, will you let me unpack some of the stuff?" he asked, going for innocent, but Ace saw right through him and knew he was only asking because Ace wasn't supposed to walk.

Ace gave him a look, the one that Sabo described as his I-am-so-fucking-done look, and it only made Luffy laugh as he took off towards the living room and started digging through the first box.

"This is mine!" he exclaimed, almost as if in triumph. "I'm allowed to unpack this!" he added before running to his room with the box in his arms.

Ace laughed as he continued eating, loving the sound of Luffy cheering at whatever it was he found in his box. After being all alone in his mother's house after she was admitted to the hospital, the house far too silent for his liking. Here, he had Luffy and the ruckus that came with him, that started blending with the sound of the music from Ace's music box before he even noticed what was happening, but he could hear it so clearly.

He froze in his seat, the fork halted halfway towards his mouth, because he hadn't opened the box, he hadn't touched it since the day before when they arrived. Ace shook his head, trying to shake the feeling off, but the music was still there, barely heard over Luffy's laughter, so low that Ace wasn't actually sure it was really there.


	3. Chapter 3

The house felt a bit less menacing, now that Luffy was back and making noise, letting Ace know he was just around the corner. At the same time, he couldn't remember when he'd started thinking of it as menacing in the first place. They'd barely spent a whole day in it, and it had felt just fine the first time they came for a viewing.

A crash and some cursing from Luffy's room snapped Ace out of his thoughts enough to narrow his eyes in the direction of the noise.

"What did you break?" Ace asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Luffy replied, just as suspiciously. "Don't worry about it."

Ace did worry about it, but he knew better than to actually ask at this point. Choosing to ignore Luffy and his ruckus, Ace got up from the chair, with a tight grip on the table and making sure he wasn't putting too much pressure on his injured foot. He knew he was supposed to rest, but Ace couldn't just sit still and risk getting stuck in his thoughts of what was wrong about the house.

Doing the dishes seemed like a better idea, considering it entailed just standing in front of a sink for a bit. Technically, he could stand on just one leg and lean into the counter. Sabo probably wouldn't share that opinion, but what Sabo didn't know, wouldn't hurt him.

Now, Ace didn't exactly like doing dishes, but it was something to do while he listened to Luffy unpack something and wreak havoc around the house, just out of sight. There was no more breaking or crashing, so Ace was certain Luffy didn't do too much damage, which he could live with.

He ignored half of the sounds as best he could, allowing the laughter to wash over him and ease some of the stress. Luffy had that effect on both him and Sabo, and it was actually soothing to have him around.

The laughter was broken, though, when Luffy spoke, not loud enough for Ace to hear, but he was definitely speaking, in the sudden suspicious silence of the house.

"Lu?" Ace called out. "You okay?"

He wasn't sure what kind of answer he was expecting, but it wasn't the one he got.

"Sure," Luffy said, voice muffled. "Fine."

That definitely sounded suspicious, like so many things Luffy did, but this time it was a bit different. For one, the words hadn't been preceded by the sound of breaking like usual, and it was enough to make Ace hobble along the kitchen counters, on his way out towards the hall and Luffy's room.

Instead of the sounds of the usual Luffy relate trouble, Ace was met with the soft notes of his music box yet again, growing louder the closer he got to Luffy's room. He stumbled, whether it be because of the music or the fact he couldn't actually walk normally, it didn't matter.

The air around him grew colder and Ace was filled with dread, because the sudden random cold couldn't mean anything good, not if the previous times were anything to go by. He still couldn't admit that those might bouts of cold might have been real, but this time he wasn't alone in the house when it happened. There was nothing to convince him he was just imagining it this time.

The music played around him, soft and soothing, but at the same time sinister, while his breath fogged in front of his face.

"Why is it cold?" Ace heard Luffy ask, voice muffled through the half closed door, but he didn't sound scared, he sounded curious.

There was no telling how long it took him to reach the end of the hall with the way he was awkwardly hopping against the wall, but he finally made it, letting his hand push the door open.

The air was much colder in there, but Luffy was just arranging his comic books on the shelves like there was nothing wrong, humming along to the music that was still playing, but Ace couldn't find the music box. Looking around the room revealed nothing, but Ace barely had time to actually look everywhere when a gust of wind almost knocked him on his ass.

It came from the room, followed by Luffy's shout.

"No, stop!" he said and Ace barely had a second to think that he had nothing to stop, he wasn't doing anything. "Don't hurt him!" Luffy shouted, confusing Ace further.

Barely a moment later, Ace actually found himself on his ass in the middle of the hallways, the air around him unbearably cold and Luffy's words still echoing around him. His gaze, though, remained plastered on the space in front of him.

It didn't make sense, for empty space to look so distorted. He could maybe make out a shape of a person, translucent and almost shimmering in the light, but that couldn't be. Ace shook his head, and couldn't stop the shiver that came out of it, running down his spine and making goosebumps break out over his skin.

That didn't matter even remotely, though, not when he was staring at something inexplicable, shapeless almost, but recognizable at the same time, radiating an icy cold, making him freeze where he sat. He wasn't one to believe in ghosts, but well...

Luffy ran forward, right through the epicenter of the cold, dispelling it immediately before he grabbed Ace and helped him up.

"Lu?" Ace asked, eyes wide, feeling like they hadn't blinked in a lifetime, and voice shaky like he was still cold. "Tell me you saw that too."

"I did," Luffy said reluctantly, but didn't offer anything more, sounding unwilling to talk for once. "Come on, let's go to the living room."

Ace wanted to ask, very much so, but if Luffy didn't want to talk, there was no need to try and push him. For one, Luffy was like a rock and wouldn't say anything if he really didn't want to. And Ace didn't want to make him talk.

No matter how much he really wanted to do that.

"You know something, don't you," Ace said as Luffy helped him ease down on the couch.

"Yeah," Luffy said simply, not looking directly at Ace.

Ace was aware he probably looked worse for wear, not from the fall, but from, well everything else. It was a calm before the storm, though, he could tell it was only a matter of time before he came to terms with what he saw.

* * *

Luffy looked worried. Which was, as always, enough to make Ace worry. But he hadn't moved from the couch in hours, ever since Luffy helped him sit down. Luffy himself was hovering nearby, while Ace sat on the couch, too lost in thought, trying to wrap his mind around things he didn't understand. There have been too many of those since they've moved in and Ace was already done with all of it.

The door opened then, and Sabo walked in, silent and looking dead tired like usually after he came from a shift at the hospital. It was enough to snap Ace's gaze up and away from the same spot he'd been staring at for ages. Even Luffy came into the room to greet Sabo.

But the room went cold before anyone could speak, and Ace was just about ready to pretend nothing was happening, but the look on Sabo's face said it all. Sabo felt it too. 

Ace's eyes remained glued to Sabo's face, where confusion morphed into distress as soon as the house shook. Well, it felt like it was shaking, almost like an earthquake, but so so cold, chilling to the bone, and Ace could feel his breathing quicken. Every inhale felt like ice, and with every inhale Ace's panic grew, only making it worse.

Watching Sabo's face morph in fear, though, was what tipped him over the edge, making him realize that this was all beyond real. Sabo wasn't afraid, not often and not this openly and Ace hadn't thought of being afraid before.

There was the sound of his mother's music box again, coming from all around them at once, with no actual source to be found. It was eerie, combined with everything else going on, with the cold and the fear on Sabo's face. The breathless sound Luffy made.

"What the fuck?!" Sabo shouted, wide eyed gaze directed towards the corner of the room, just behind Ace's back.

He didn't want to turn and look, he really didn't, but he had to, so he turned slowly, feeling the ice cold sweat pouring down his spine. It was too cold for sweat, and yet. Ace couldn't tell what it was Sabo kept staring at. The corner was dark, yet illuminated with a faint bluish glow, vaguely shaped like a person, yet completely shapeless at the same time.

Whatever it was, it remained wrapped in contradictions. It was something so difficult to look at, yet Ace couldn't look away.

Neither could Sabo, Ace knew it without looking at him, but neither had much to say, too caught up in shock and fright. There was no telling what Luffy was doing, but Ace couldn't be bothered to look. He was uncharacteristically quiet, though, up until the first shatter of glass.

Ace flinched, reminded of the same thing happening when he hurt himself and it was hard to pretend he'd dreamed that up at this point, when the room around him felt like ice. Another glass shattered then, as the all too familiar music continued to play from nowhere and everywhere all at once. He was shaking now, partially from the cold, partially because he was staring down an actual ghost and Sabo, who was usually the voice of reason, had nothing to say this time.

The room shook again, and they were all frozen in place, doing nothing to stop it. What was there to do anyway? Ghosts were apparently real, and Ace doubted there was a way of stopping one if it wanted to harm.

"Stop," Luffy said, voice low but firm, cutting through the cold.

Of course it would be Luffy that was collected enough to do something, of course it would be Luffy to make the cold stop and the ground to stop shaking. Of course. It all just vanished, with that one simple word, the room growing warm, going back to normal, as if nothing happened. The only indicator that anything had been amiss was the sweat on Ace's skin, that felt like ice rolling down his back, and the terrified look on Sabo's face.

"Lu, I think you have some explaining to do," Sabo said weakly, and when Ace looked back, Sabo was still staring into that corner. "I didn't imagine that, right." The words suggested it was a question, but he really didn't say it as one.

"That's a ghost," Luffy said, and he really didn't sound surprised or frightened.

"Well what are we gonna do about it?" Ace asked, voice a bit weak, but he managed to lean back into the couch and maybe ignore the feeling of dread a tiny bit.

"I know some Ghostbusters," Luffy said with a grin, still entirely too relaxed about the whole thing. As if Ace hadn't almost had a heart attack.

Though, he supposed, their reactions have been a bit mild considering they apparently moved into a haunted house.

"This isn't a time to joke, Lu," Ace said seriously, though he had no idea if this was a time to joke or not. They had a ghost in the house, everything was up in the air at the moment.

"I'm not joking!" Luffy said, almost whining as he slumped and pouted at them. "I know guys who bust ghosts. I should give them a call!"

With that, he ran off to his room and Ace shared a look with Sabo. Well, they didn't exactly have that many options, did they? Listening to Luffy wasn't always the worst idea in the world.


	4. Chapter 4

"So what kind of ghostbusers are you guys?" Ace asked skeptically, eyeing the three sitting on their couch.

They didn't look like anything special, they were just three random guys with a tool box, and Ace was not impressed. More than anything, they looked shifty. But Luffy was a good judge of character and Ace wasn't in the habit of doubting that.

"Ghostbusters?" the blond one asked, Marco was his name, with a raised eyebrow, his lips barely revealing a smirk.

"That's what Luffy called you," Ace replied with a shrug. While he was a great judge of character, Luffy was absolute shit about remembering names of anything really.

The brunet one, Ace thought his name might have been Thatch, snorted from the other side of the couch, while the third one, Izou, replied: "We're supernatural specialists."

"Does that mean you're supernatural or that you're specialists about the supernatural?" Ace asked, and he could have sworn Marco snorted at that, but his composure was back too fast.

Not that he was looking that closely, in all honesty, he hadn't slept in a week because these specialists couldn't come by earlier and sleeping in a house that was most definitely haunted wasn't exactly easy.

"Ace, come on," Sabo finally stopped the interrogation, before Ace could get a reply. He didn't really sound impressed, while Luffy was just sitting on a chair behind the couch, grinning like this was all very amusing. Maybe it would have been, if not for the whole murderous ghost thing.

"Actually, I can see ghosts," Izou said, breaking the silence with something resembling so awfully of sadness. Ace didn't know him well enough to question it, though.

"So you two are his henchmen and he does all the work?" Ace asked, glancing at the other two, and really this time he was actually joking, but Thatch looked scandalized. Marco looked a bit more amused and Ace found himself smiling back just a bit.

"Well, you're not wrong," Izou said, successfully interrupting whatever it was Thatch planned on saying. "But I don't see a ghost here. Are you sure you're not just imagining it?" Even as he asked, though, he looked as if he doubted his words.

Maybe he was just hoping there was nothing in the house but the three of them, and Ace couldn't say he blamed Izou for that thought. Things would have been much easier without ghosts.

"We're sure," Ace said, while Sabo looked a bit paler than a moment earlier, and Luffy nodded enthusiastically, as if they were talking about a pet or something. "Unless one of them is playing a really elaborate prank."

He glanced at Luffy and Sabo then, as if actually suspecting them for a moment, only shrugging once Sabo looked at him accusingly. Ace didn't think it was a prank, but humor was still better in the situation than actually worrying, or praying for the ghost to show up. There had been more than enough weird things happening in the week they'd been waiting for these guys to show up, and Ace wasn't eager for more.

"So what now?" Sabo asked, breaking the somewhat awkward silence. "Do we just sit here and wait?"

"Pretty much," Izou said with a shrug. "We can't do much unless there's actually a ghost around."

"And what exactly are you going to do when the ghost shows up?" Ace asked dubiously. He was already skeptical enough about the whole thing, so trying to imagine a way these three could get rid of an actual ghost was just too taxing.

"We'll find out what's keeping them here and then help them pass over," Izou replied smoothly.

That actually sounded pretty easy, though Ace sincerely doubted it would end up being that easy to pull off. Still, with no other choice at the moment, he had to have faith in the 'supernatural specialists', or else they could end up with a fourth roommate.

"Can you tell us why you think there's a ghost?" Marco asked, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees then propping his chin on his folded hands. "Luffy didn't really go into detail."

"The house got icy cold and misty randomly, there were weird sounds, and there was the..."

"And there was the fucking human shaped thing in the corner that looked like a fucking ghost!" Ace interrupted incredulously, because that was probably the best indication that they were living in a fucking haunted house.

"Yes, there was that too," Sabo admitted, sounding like he still doubted the whole thing happened.

"You actually saw it?" Thatch asked, looking interested all of a sudden. Ace was pretty sure they hadn't actually believe Luffy about the ghost, but he knew first hand how difficult it was to say no to Luffy.

"Did it look like someone you know?" Izou asked.

"Well, we wouldn't be in this mess if we knew who it was, would we?" Ace asked with a roll of his eyes. "It looked like a human shaped mist, but that's about it. Felt like the wind."

"Kind of like now," Luffy added helpfully, and before anyone could register the words properly, the air grew cold around them.

Ace was already gasping for breath from the panic, his lungs pulling in the ice from the air. His foot was pretty much healed already, but every time the air went cold, he could feel an ache in it, as if he was stepping onto the glass all over again.

Marco, Izou and Thatch were up from their seats in a flash, looking around, managing to appear both frantic and collected at the same time. Marco finally opened the toolbox, and dug out a small device that immediately beeped, but Ace couldn't care less about it at the moment. He was, after all, too busy trying to locate the ghost so he could stay as far away as possible.

Not surprising that Sabo was doing the same thing.

"There," Marco said, pointing towards the hall leading to their bedrooms, and Izou immediately turned and walked off. Thatch didn't look too happy about that, but followed close by anyway.

Briefly, Ace was distracted by their dynamic, and found himself smiling just a bit, before the cold caught up with him again.

Against his better judgement, Ace started towards the hall as well, maybe slightly curious about what they were going to do to solve this problem. Hopefully, this would be his only chance to see supernatural specialists in action. Being haunted once was more than enough, thanks.

Marco's hand grasped at his wrist as he was about to pass him by, so warm and solid, making Ace stop in his tracks.

"Don't go in there yet," he said, the little device still beeping in his hand, while the other remained wrapped around Ace's wrist. "Izou has a way of calming them. It's the best way of figuring out what they need to make them move on."

The way Marco spoke, soft and reassuring, brought warmth into Ace's chest, so at odds with the cold air. He allowed himself to chuckle, seeing now how the three of them worked. Izou had a way of calming the ghosts, and Marco obviously had a way of calming the poor people who had to live with ghosts.

"Will they be okay?" Ace asked, trying not to think about how much Marco managed to ease the panic. "Izou and Thatch, I mean."

"Yeah," Marco replied, looking down at Ace and smiling softly. "They've got this, don't worry."

Ace found he wasn't worrying anymore, how could he when Marco sounded so confident and sure of his friend's ability. It was a bit startling that he managed to trust that easily, but Ace guessed it was a unique situation where he couldn't really apply anything he'd learned about himself so far.

He also realized that Marco was still holding his wrist, and that Sabo and Luffy were staring at them. Which was great.

Thatch peeked out of the hallway then, looking serious and entirely too calm about the whole thing.

"You can come here now," he said, nodding towards the rooms behind him, staying only long enough to see if they'd start moving. Then he was gone again.

Marco let Ace's hand go, the warmth staying on his skin for a moment longer, before Ace was moving, probably too fast considering he was going against his own plan of not approaching the ghost. Thatch was waiting in front of Ace's room, though, and Ace went cold again. As if he wasn't pretty much freezing already.

But Thatch looked like nothing was wrong, like they were all there just to hang out, and that calmed Ace enough to rush into the room. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it surely wasn't the same barely human shaped mist. Somehow, he'd expected Izou to do some magic and give the ghost a face, something that would make sense of the whole thing.

On the bright side, though, Ace was too disappointed to feel fear.

The ghost was calm, however, even the cold was slowly leaving the room, while Izou spoke to it gently. Ace remained silent for a while longer, letting Izou do his thing while Sabo and Luffy entered the room as well. He couldn't tell if Marco and Thatch joined them, but that didn't really matter to Ace at the moment.

Even though Izou wasn't doing much, Ace was fascinated. He couldn't focus on the words themselves, but his tone was calming, soothing, so low that it lulled even Ace into a sense of security. It was almost like a trans, making it easy to forget there was a ghost settled between his bed and the window. Even if he was looking right at it.

But staring straight at the ghost was difficult, making his eyes hurt a bit with the way it couldn't settle into its frame, the way it shimmered and flickered without actually doing anything. And yet Ace couldn't look away, even when he tried. Sabo, Ace imagined, had the same problem. Luffy wasn't bothered in the slightest, though.

Even after over a week of this, Ace was still unable to completely wrap his head around it.

"Do you know who it is?" Thatch asked, breaking the spell of the moment, successfully bringing Ace back into the present. He imagined Thatch and Marco were already used to this calming air Izou was surrounded with.

"She didn't tell me her name," Izou said sadly. "Just that she wants to say goodbye to her baby."

Ace's chest clenched, like the floor was dropping out from under him at the thought of a mother leaving her baby behind. He could imagine why Izou sounded so sad earlier, and as he spoke now. Who knew how much sadness Izou heard from the ghosts he'd encountered in his life, and just thinking of that made Ace sad too.

Izou's gaze never left the ghost, not even for a moment, the entire time he spoke to her, trying to coax answers out of her. From an outsider's point of view, it was kind of boring, if Ace was being perfectly honest, but the room was down to a normal temperature and something was obviously going well.

"Maybe she lived here," Marco suggested, voice low enough not to disturb the air in the room.

"What does she look like?" Sabo asked, sounding curious and more like himself than he had all day. Ace was glad to hear it. Luffy, though, was deathly silent and that was more of a cause to worry.

"Tall with long blond hair and a flower tucked in behind her ear," Izou said. "She has light brown eyes and freckles everywhere."

Ace's blood ran cold, but this time it had nothing to do with the room dropping in temperature, or from the knowledge that there was a ghost in his room. Well, maybe it was, technically.

"Mom?" Ace stuttered out, voice sounding broken even to his hears, and Izou turned away from the ghost for the first time.


	5. Chapter 5

Calling out to her didn't change much; the ghost still looked like it had before Ace knew who it was inside that human shaped mist. The ghost hadn't changed, but the knowledge shifted something in him, melting the fear into a pain in his chest.

He'd been afraid of his own mother for the past week, and wasn't that the most abstract thing to imagine.

All eyes were on him, in that awfully silent moment after he'd spoken, the heavy weight of their gazes almost unbearable. They were witnessing his heartbreak, as if he hadn't felt it such a short while ago when she'd died. He couldn't bear it, not when he couldn't see her face for a semblance of comfort. Oh how he'd missed her.

All the words he'd wanted to say weren't coming out, though, his lips stuck together like he'd been eating glue. Izou looked on with such sadness in his eyes, Ace couldn't look at him directly.

"She wanted to say a proper goodbye to you," Izou said, his voice barely registering over the sound of blood rushing in his ears.

Ace could understand. The goodbye they'd had at the hospital was pathetic, awful, so god damned painful, that he chose not to think of it in the days after.

"She says you will always be loved," Izou continued, and Ace's breath caught in his throat. His vision was blurring and it wasn't even her voice that said the words, but he could still hear it, from the last time she'd said it, when he felt worthless and unworthy of love.

The tears stung, far more than they had a right to, but he hadn't let himself cry much so far. There were more words, the soft kind type of words she always had for him, whenever he felt lost and alone. It was easy to believe that this was truly his mother.

"I'll leave you alone with her," Izou said, placing a steady hand on Ace's shoulder, and only then did he notice that it was just the two of them in the room, along with Rouge in the corner. "Sabo told us you only kept her music box," Izou added, and the sadness returned. "That's probably what she's attached to. I'm sorry, but," he paused, sounding so painfully reluctant, like the words physically hurt, "you're going to have to salt and burn it. To let her go."

Izou was pointing towards the music box, left on the foot of the bed, next to the small container of rock salt and a bottle of lighter fluid. The matches were right next to all of it. Just thinking of burning the only keepsake he had of his mother seemed to pierce through his chest, right where his heart was.

But he had to let her go. She deserved the peace finally.

So he nodded numbly, not looking at Izou as he walked around Ace to leave the room. And then they were alone, with no way to communicate successfully, but Ace had a feeling Izou wouldn't leave if she wasn't able to understand him.

"I love you, mom," he said, the words torn from his throat, burning with everything he hadn't said to her when he had the chance. He still reached for the things left on the bed, just the thought of getting rid if the music box making him sob more, but he knew he had to do it.

"I miss you so much," he said, softly in the silence of the room, but couldn't bring himself to look at her. "I wish you didn't have to leave."

He wished she didn't have to die, and that he didn't have to destroy the last piece of her he had left, and he wished he didn't have to say goodbye again. But his wishes didn't mean much, in the grand scheme of things. He was just lucky he got this moment with her, to say the things he wanted to say ever since the hospital, when words were hard to find.

No one stopped him when he finally left the room, after who knew how much time, clutching the stuff from his bed against his chest as he walked out towards the back yard. He hadn't even seen anyone, or heard a sound from the rest of the house. The silence was eerie, but not in the same way being haunted felt.

Ace didn't stop, though, not until he was outside on the porch, with the door close behind him. The last thing they needed was a fire in the house.

* * *

The house was the same, but also wasn't. All their stuff was unpacked, all the furniture in place, and nothing was haunted. The paranoia stayed, though, the overwhelming fear that the room would suddenly turn freezing following Ace for weeks after he'd said goodbye to his mom.

Of course he wasn't afraid of her. It was the cold that scared him, when he walked out into the hall in the darkness, unsure what was around him, and whether or not he was alone. Luffy and Sabo didn't talk about it. There was nothing to clue Ace in whether or not they still felt the presence around, even though they knew it was gone. He didn't dare ask, anyway.

He said his goodbye. Properly, this time, and that was enough to help him find peace. It didn't help with the gaping hole in his chest, but it was getting smaller with each day. He could feel it, the weight of missing her lessening as time went by. Of course he would always miss her.

But it stopped feeling like an open wound, and was turning into a dull ache he could actually deal with. He could actually live with it.

It was enough for him, if he was being honest. He didn't want to forget, or let her go completely. He wanted her to still be a part of him, in a way that wouldn't make it painful to breathe. It was still too early for the pain to disappear completely, but Ace could see it happening in the future. The least he could do was remain optimistic, now that he had no other choice.

Still, the emptiness had returned. The same emptiness he'd felt just after she died, and it almost felt like he'd lost her twice now. Once was more than enough. Yet, Sabo and Luffy still gave him time, didn't push, didn't try to make it all okay. They let him grieve in peace, yet again, and he's grateful for it. Yet again. It wasn't easier the second time around, though.

"Ace!" Luffy shouted from somewhere in the house, successfully startling Ace out of his thoughts, and back to reality where he was sitting in his room, staring blindly into his laptop screen with his hands still leaning against the keyboard.

His work seemed to be the thing suffering most from his extended bout of grief, and he found himself unable to write anything that wasn't tinted with melancholy. Maybe he'd be able to use all these feeling, and channel them into a story, but it was a bit too early to think about that.

Luffy burst into the room then, distracting him yet again. Ace was almost embarrassed how easily he found himself getting lost in thought these days, but maybe it wasn't that weird overall.

"Hey, there's someone here to see you," Luffy said from the doorway, looking like he knew Ace was distracted. "I'm going out. Don't worry about dinner, I'll pick something up."

Before Ace could say anything, Luffy was already gone. He could hear a muffled goodbye directed at whoever it was in the living room, before the front door closed and the house settled into silence. Ace got up then too, once again a bit embarrassed at being so distracted, he didn't even hear someone come over.

The embarrassment morphed into confusion, though, when he saw Marco in the living room, looking awfully uncomfortable, like he had no idea what to do with himself. It was weird, seeing him like that after all the confidence and calm he'd shown last time they'd seen each other.

"Hi," Ace said, visibly startling Marco. Well if that wasn't endearing enough to make Ace smile.

"Hey," Marco said, smiling for a moment, but still looking awfully nervous.

"I wasn't expecting to see you again," Ace said, making his way towards the kitchen. "Would you like something to drink? I doubt Luffy offered."

"No, thank you," Marco said, but followed Ace slowly. He still seemed far too nervous and it was slowly making Ace nervous as well, but he said nothing, giving Marco a moment to gather his thoughts.

"What can I do for you?" Ace asked then, when he had a glass of water for himself, motioning towards the kitchen table. "I don't think we have another ghost."

Marco laughed a little at that, but it was still nervous, still gave the impression that he had no idea what exactly he was doing.

"That's good," he said, looking a bit more relaxed, but still not as confident as last time. "I have something for you," he said in a rush, avoiding Ace's eyes.

"What?" Ace asked, unsure what to make of this.

"I-" Marco started, before stopping himself to take a deep breath. "I don't want to overstep any boundaries, but- I know you had to burn the last thing you had from your mom and I felt bad."

Ace froze a little in his seat, doing his best not to think about that in the weeks that had followed the whole ghost thing.

"It was the only way, but I'm sorry you had to lose something that meant a lot to you," he continued, sounding sad, and still avoiding looking directly at Ace.

Marco glanced up at him, just for a brief nervous moment, before he leaned down into his messenger bag. He wavered there, just barely, before he turned towards Ace again, looking at him properly this time. The deep breath he took was obviously meant to calm him, but little did he know, it served to calm Ace as well.

Then he placed a small, unadorned wooden box on the table between them.

His hand was shaky as he pulled it away, but only for a moment before he hid it under his other hand on the tabletop. Ace was completely focused on the box, though, unsure as he reached out to pull it closer.

"What's this?" he asked without looking up.

"Just-" Marco started, but cut himself off with a heavy exhale. "Open it."

So Ace did, and his heart nearly have out when the kitchen filled with the music from his mother's music box, the melody so sweet and low and charged with memories. His eyes stung almost immediately, but Ace couldn't help the smile as he stared at the little box in his hands.

"How did you do this?" Ace asked, softly, barely heard over the music.

"Izou heard it, before you came into the room," Marco said, his voice just as low. "He helped me find the right melody."

Ace nodded at that, distracted, focused entirely on the music.

"Thank you," he said, lifting his head, looking at Marco through the unshed tears, not knowing how to properly express his gratitude. "I don't really know what to say."

He could see the way Marco was smiling at him, though, the nervousness gone, replaced with an obvious feeling of peace that reflected on his face.

"I'm glad you like it," was the only thing he said, the smile on his face so soft and small and intriguing.

Ace couldn't help but smile back, as the hole in his chest hurt a bit less than it had earlier.


End file.
